Tracereporters –A Kaduna based Journalist and a Public Commentator, Mr. Andrew Ibrahim Mshelia has said that State police, as being advocated by some State Governors, is never a quick end to ending insecurity bedeviling their respective states. Rather, a back door for second term tenure elongation for the Governors.
According to Mr. Mshelia, if the State Governors are sincere as they claimed in their sudden love for the protection of lives and property of their people by ending insecurity in their respective states, more efforts should have been geared towards rolling out programmes, prompt payment of workers’ salaries, providing microsoft loans for small scale businesses that would cushion the effect of the hardship being created, even before the removal of fuel subsidy last year.
Mr Andrew Ibrahim Mshelia who disclosed this in a statement He said some of state Governors have not told their people what they did with the billions of naira they received for palliatives after the subsidy removal and the increase in monthly allocation.
According to him, despite increasing cost of living and hardship across the country, most governors calling for the creation of State Police, have not put in needed efforts to alleviate the suffering of the people they govern.
“As an idle mind is the devil’s workshop,” also, “a hungry man is an angry man.” So, how do put a gun in the hand of a man who has not eaten and is being owed salaries for months, he said.
He said most of this Governors have not even created enabling environment and also creating more jobs for the people they govern as that would have been the fastest way of putting people off crimes.
Mr Mshelia noted that it’s even more worrisome that such Governors can not pay salaries of their workers that would have put food on their table and their dependants not talking about pensioners who have resigned to their fate.
Andrew Ibrahim Mshelia further said that there is no state in country that didn’t have one security outfit or the other; noting that in some region, they have even gone ahead to have a regional security outfit, yet, insecurity has persisted, even become worst in those States, and across the country.
Mr. Mshelia argued that creating state police in other countries could work for them but not in Nigeria where most of thes Governors barely obey court orders, especially the ones that is not in their favor.
“We have seen in this country where a State Governor took security personnel and pull down a complete building of an arm of government, we have also seen a State Governor despite a matter before a court of competent jurisdiction defiling such under the supervision of heavily armed security men pull down buildings including those from his perceived enemies, or opposition part. How can you entrust such powers in the hands of such person? Is like entrusting a” fried fish under command and control of a cat.” he observed.
The Kaduna based journalist urged the State Governors to as a matter of urgency think outside the box and to provide effective leadership and creating policies that will check mate greedy politicians that have continued to take advantage of the hardship in the land in creating insecurity in their states.
